


laptop

by orphan_account



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: A Lot Of House Moving, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Coffee Shops, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Hanahaki, Jeonghan embarasses himself, Love Triangles, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Online School, Random Stranger at a Coffee Shop!Mingyu, Student!Jeonghan, alcohol use
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-07-10 19:43:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 13,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15956204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: jeonghan will do anything to get his laptop charged, even if it means possibly angering a 6 ft giant who could easily curb stomp him if he wasn't a total softie.





	1. laptop

**Author's Note:**

> hey there it's me, your local gyuhan supremacist here to provide you with some SWEET CONTENT !!!  
> expect slow updates bc of my lack of motivation and school and very low quality chapters but it's okay because it's worth it for the plot right ??? no ??? okay
> 
> have fun reading anyway lol ily

jeonghan was desperate.

 

he was taking an online exam in the middle of a small coffee shop, and his laptop was running dangerously low on battery. the soft ambiance of the shop wasn't perfect exam conditions, sure, but at least it allowed him to concentrate. well it  _would_  have if he wasn't too busy internally panicking about his ability to finish the test without his trusty laptop betraying him before he even got halfway through.

 

he was currently spending more of his brain energy on figuring out how to not let his precious laptop die on him than he was on the actual exam- which was probably not a good idea if he wanted to get a good grade. that wasn't a problem though, because to jeonghan, grades didn't matter. his laptop however,  _did_  matter. a lot.

 

he had his damn priorities straight and he knew it.

 

while he had been taking 'discreet' glances around the room to check for possible methods of charging his laptop, he received multiple strange looks from people on other tables. it was no wonder really - he looked quite shady considering the fact that he was scanning the room quickly, and to an outsider that wouldn't give off the best image. it didn't help that he had the hood of his jacket up either.

 

at one point he made eye contact with a pink haired boy across the room, who just so happened to be his friend chan who was also taking the exam. chan wasn't an idiot - well, that was debatable, but at least he bothered to actually charge his laptop before leaving for the coffee shop. jeonghan gave him a panicked look that said 'help me', only for his plea to be returned with chan mouthing 'you'll fail anyway' before laughing silently and looking back at his screen.

 

jeonghan stuck his tongue out at his friend before taking another hurried look around the room and answering a few more questions.

 

then he saw it. a ray of hope shone before him and his heart did a cliche little backflip as out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a plug socket. if he had any less self control, he probably would have screamed. in fact, he almost did when he saw his battery drop down to 1% and his life flash before his eyes. the plug was hidden behind a chair - one that was occupied at that, but jeonghan didn't care about that. he probably would have cared if he saw exactly  _who_  was in the chair, but he didn't. so he didn't care.

 

he immediately grabbed his bag and fumbled around to pull out his charger and dashed over to the table, slamming his charger into the socket.

 

"ayyy" jeonghan mumbled triumphantly to himself, and plugged in his laptop.

 

he flopped down on the chair opposite the charger before looking over at chan and winking. chan wasn't smiling though, his eyes were darting back and forth between jeonghan and the person across the ta- oh no.

 

"excuse me?" a deep and quite annoyed voice grabbed jeonghan's attention from across the table.

 

**_shit._ **


	2. moral support

jeonghan spun his head around at the sound of the stranger's voice and was met with a tall, black haired man who didn't look too happy about the situation at all. he looked angry, an expression of slight disgust painted on his face - which jeonghan used to calculate that he was  _probably_  an aries. jeonghan gulped and ran a hand through his hair, smiling awkwardly at the man in front of him.

 

admittedly, the stranger he was sitting in front of was very attractive - but jeonghan wasn't really focused on that. he was too busy a) trying to take the exam and b) freaking out about how  _intimidating_  this man was. his expression was cold, and he was very tall despite being hunched over in his seat.

 

jeonghan was almost certain that if he moved another muscle, he would definitely have no problem putting him in a choke hold and throwing him out of the window. hell, maybe he'd even go to the length of curb stomping him too!

 

but to jeonghan's surprise, the stranger's cold façade was quickly broken as his mouth curved into a sheepish smile and he cracked up into a quiet laugh.

 

a wave of pure, unfiltered relief crashed over him as he realised he  _wasn't_  going to die by the hands of an angry giant, and he might actually be able to pass the exam without having to finish it in a&e. this relief was so strong in fact, that it was physically visible. the stranger was looking at him like he was holding back a laugh - and rightfully so considering the fact that jeonghan looked like he was fucking ascending.

 

"i'm guessing you're here for the plug socket and not me,"

 

jeonghan didn't know what to say. he was too frozen with relief to either respond or carry on with the exam, so instead he just sat there gawking at the man in front of him. that didn't last long though because soon enough, he got his courage back.

 

"you just gave me eight consecutive heart attacks! i thought you were gonna fucking curb stomp me!"

 

jeonghan pushed himself up from his seat using the table in front of him as he shouted, drawing the attention of everyone in the coffee shop and causing the whole room to go silent. his face quickly went red as he apologized profusely and sat back down before slamming his head against the table and groaning.

 

"today really isn't your day, is it?"

 

jeonghan groaned again in reply, which probably translated to 'no, it isn't' in the language of pain and frustration.

 

"well then, i guess i'll leave you be," the stranger went to get up, looking at jeonghan with a fond smile on his face.

 

"no, wait!" jeonghan's head shot up from where he was still lying on the desk wallowing in his self pity. "i need moral support for my exam."

 

"oh?" the stranger tilted his head to the side and looked at jeonghan in curiosity. "an exam?"

 

"i'm taking an exam right now- online that is. that's why i needed the charger." jeonghan smiled awkwardly as the stranger sat himself back down opposite him.

 

"wouldn't it be cheating if i helped you with your exam?"

 

"do i look like the type of person who cares about cheating?" jeonghan deadpanned him and rested his chin on his hand. "plus, you wouldn't be helping me. you're just here for moral support."

 

"...i guess i have nothing better to do."


	3. seven in the morning

jeonghan... wasn't a morning person. never had been, never will be. so when he was awoken by his ringtone yelling in his ear at 7:30 in the morning  _ **on a sunday**_ , he wasn't too excited nor happy about the situation.

 

jeonghan picked up his phone and answered in the groggiest, most annoyed voice possible - even though he was mostly just playing it up for sympathy.

 

"it is  **SEVEN IN THE MORNING**  i hope what you have to say is important," jeonghan groaned, rubbing his eyes with his fist and flopping back onto his pillow.

 

his shameless complaint was met by the deep voice of a certain black haired giant, who he now knew to be kim mingyu, and he huffed when he heard how wide awake the boy on the other end sounded.

 

jeonghan and mingyu had exchanged numbers after jeonghan finished his exam the day before, but jeonghan didn't expect him to actually talk to him again, let alone call him at ** _seven in the fucking morning._**

 

"i'm hungry and there's no food in my apartment," 

 

there was a short silence where jeonghan just lay there in his bed, mouth agape while he tried with all his might to comprehend what was entering his ears. was kim mingyu, a man he had literally just met yesterday, really phoning him at seven am  _just for food_? 

 

"y-you're not serious-"

 

"i am completely serious."

 

jeonghan didn't know what to say. mingyu was absolutely unbelievable. this type of behaviour was unacceptable and jeonghan wasn't ready to tolerate it when his eyes were still practically glued together from sleep.

 

"...you woke me up at seven in the morning just to complain that you're out of food?"

 

"you told me to call you if i needed anything! and right now, i need food!"

 

a slapping noise sounded from jeonghan's end of the call, the source of the slapping being jeonghan's hand colliding with his forehead.

 

"that's not what i meant in the slightest," 

 

"i-"

 

"besides, all i have in my apartment is instant noodles anyway,"

 

"shit."

 

the call went silent for a while - you know that really awkward silence where you can feel yourself slowly imploding into yourself as you try not to laugh at how awkward you're being? yeah, that type of silence. jeonghan's least favourite type of silence by far.

 

however, after a rather annoying and soul destroyingly long silence, mingyu finally broke it. 

 

"...so do you want to come grocery shopping with me?"

 

"mingyu no, it's seven am-"

 

"shops shut early on a sunday!"


	4. groceries

"i can't believe you really dragged me out here on a sunday morning,"

 

jeonghan was walking, unfortunately against his will, through the aisles of the local supermarket alongside the one and only kim mingyu himself.

 

"hey, it's not my fault i'm powerful enough to get you out of bed!"

 

jeonghan huffed. if it was anyone other than mingyu, he probably would have cussed him out over the phone and gone back to sleep, but there was something about the boy that jeonghan found endearing. the two walked down the aisle, mingyu acting like a 187 cm tall five year old while jeonghan hopelessly pretended not to know him.

 

"so... what do we get?" mingyu stopped walking abruptly as he spoke causing jeonghan to pretty much crash into him with the force of a moving car. of course, because mingyu was essentially a living breathing lamppost, jeonghan had to grab onto him to stop him from toppling over like a falling tree.

 

"what do you mean 'what do we get'? don't you already have a list?" jeonghan asked in the most exasperated tone possible for a sunday morning, making his best effort to hide from the annoyed glances of the other people in the store - it was like they were piercing into his  _soul_ _._

 

mingyu, however, stayed utterly oblivious. he opened his mouth to say something before closing it again and grinning sheepishly, making jeonghan wonder why he was ever intimidated by this manchild in the first place.

 

"i'm not here to help you buy groceries, i'm just here to... give you emotional support in this obviously very difficult task."

 

mingyu pouted and scrunched up his nose before spinning around to look at the shelf next to him. a few seconds of silence went by as he just kinda stared at the shelf for a bit before turning back to jeonghan and admitting that honestly, he really had no idea what he was going to cook.

 

"do you even know what cooking is?" 

 

"hey! i'll have you know i am an AMAZING cook! i just... don't know how to buy the ingredients,"

 

"we'll find out if that's true depending on whether or not i get poisoned by you," jeonghan playfully punched mingyu in the shoulder and grinned when he received a scowl in return. "now come on headass, let's get some food."

 

anyone looking on as an outsider would have assumed that the two had known each other for years - when in reality they had only truly met the day before. they clicked so quickly that it was honestly hard to tell that they were still getting to know each other. 

 

they spent a while in the store, jeonghan having to drag mingyu away from aisles that were irrelevant to what they were actually there to buy because that boy was just way too easily distracted. he found himself having to say things like 'mingyu PLEASE stop looking at children's toys,' and 'step away from the plants! we're not here to buy succulents!' a few too many times.

 

eventually, they made their way to checkout without too much extra stuff. however, jeonghan  _did_ have to go to great lengths to stop mingyu from buying a floral lampshade, and his efforts simply weren't enough to prevent the younger boy from purchasing a pink dolphin plush from the kids aisle. 

 

jeonghan  _insisted_ on using self-service, but noooo, mr extrovert kim mingyu CRAVED human interaction and claimed that self service was 'too slow and fiddly' when in reality it's actually 100 times easier to just press a few buttons and take your things.

 

as they paid for their food, jeonghan practically used mingyu as a meat shield so as to avoid any human contact whilst still being able to listen in on the conversation. of course he wasn't just going to leave while mingyu paid - he was an expert in eavesdropping . it was like his profession at this point. while mingyu was talking to the cashier (something jeonghan would NEVER consider in a million years), jeonghan heard him say something that could only be described as 'flirtatious as fuck'. 

 

for some odd reason, jeonghan felt... a little jealous. he shouldn't feel jealous at all - he'd just met mingyu the day before of course - but jeonghan was a slightly jealous person by nature, so he really couldn't help it. he wrapped his arms around mingyu's waist and pulled him into a back hug, sending a quick death glare at the cashier before going back to his normal calm appearance. 

 

"what was that all about?" mingyu confronted jeonghan once they left the store, fumbling clumsily to pull his jacket on over his sweater even though it was literally only autumn and not cold enough to justify wearing four layers.

 

"what was what all about?" 

 

"you sent evils at that cashier! do you have beef with him or something?"

 

"i don't know what you're talking about. anyway, you've got your groceries, i'll take that as my cue to leave-"

 

"you only have instant noodles in your house."

 

"...you win this time, kim mingyu."


	5. loudest most obnoxious person on the planet

"...so you bought cake ingredients for... why?"

 

"to make a cake."

 

"for _breakfast?!_ "

 

jeonghan and mingyu were currently stood in the latter's kitchen, an assortment of ingredients laid out on the counter. none of which looked very breakfast-y at all, considering the fact that mingyu had plans to make a cake... which isn't normally what one would decide to eat for breakfast. mingyu, of course, wasn't a normal person, so that kind of explained that.

 

"why not?!" mingyu shifted into a defensive stance, folding his arms and stomping his foot like a child throwing a tantrum.

 

jeonghan sighed and put his hand to his forehead, shaking his head back and forth; mingyu was really testing his patience, and he'd only known the kid for a day. he was soon relieved from his suffering, however, as someone - supposedly mingyu's roommate - entered the room.

 

this man, whom jeonghan thought to be his saviour in this perilous situation of certain death, just so happened to be the one and only lee seokmin: proud owner of the title of 'loudest most obnoxious person on the planet'. jeonghan didn't know this yet, however, so he thought seokmin to be his saving grace when it came to getting away from mingyu's mind-numbingly confusing way of thinking.

 

"ah! mingyu! is this the hottie you told me you met at the cafe yesterday?" seokmin greeted his roommate with the widest grin humanly possible painted on his face.

 

mingyu screeched in reaction, grabbing the nearest object (that wouldn't cause seokmin any harm) and throwing it at his head. mingyu ended up opting for an apple, which he grabbed from the fruit bowl in a fit of panic.

 

"don't say that!" mingyu spun around to face jeonghan with a very panicked look on his face and his hands on his head like he was being arrested. "hannie i said _no such thing!_ " he looked honestly mortified -but knowing mingyu he would probably get embarrassed if he set the microwave to heat his food for one second too long.

 

jeonghan was touched at the nickname - especially considering he hadn't even known mingyu long enough to warrant the creation of a lazy-but-cute nickname. 

 

"i'm only kidding!" seokmin laughed and playfully slapped mingyu on the back, the absolutely mortified look on his face fading to that of confusion and irritation. "nice to meet you jeonghan, i've heard a lot about you!"

 

seokmin reached out his hand to offer jeonghan a handshake; to which he promptly broke out in a cold sweat as his brain tried to run eight-thousand calculations at once to determine which angle to meet seokmin's hand at before- nevermind. only jeonghan would try to meet a handshake with a fist-bump at eight in the morning. 

 

"my name's seokmin, by the way!" 

 

to jeonghan's ultimate relief, seokmin didn't say anything more about the awkward exchange, but he could see it in his eyes that he was trying not to laugh at him. why else would he be on the verge of tears? he looked like a balloon that's full up with air to the point where if it had a single atom more inside it, it would burst immediately - except instead of it being a balloon filled with air, it's lee seokmin filled with secondhand embarrassment for jeonghan's unfortunate exchange.

 

"nice to meet you too, seokmin," jeonghan smiled through gritted teeth, mostly through frustration at his own tragic first impression on this potential new friend. but, seokmin didn't seem to mind, so it couldn't really be _that_ bad. jeonghan was just overreacting. probably.

 

"right, now that we've all sat around in a circle and introduced ourselves like nursery kids, let's get baking!"

 

jeonghan and seokmin both groaned in unison, mingyu handing them both some sort of kitchen utensil - jeonghan didn't care to look at what it was - and pretty much jumping onto the ingredients that were still sat neglected on the table.

 

this was going to be a long sunday.


	6. "wake me up when it's done."

jeonghan's calculations were correct. it was a very long sunday, as far as sundays go.

 

jeonghan didn't want to help bake the cake, and seokmin was overly enthusiastic about baking the cake. that managed to work in jeonghan's favour, however, because it meant he could just crash on the couch while seokmin did all the work for him. score!

 

jeonghan was perfectly happy to admit the fact that he spent the entire time napping on mingyu's sofa instead of helping them. well, it was perfectly acceptable considering mingyu _did_ wake him up at seven in the morning to go grocery shopping. especially considering the fact that he probably would have woken up at three pm otherwise.

 

either way, he was soon rudely awoken around two hours later when mingyu sat down on the sofa. on top of jeonghan. who was sleeping on the sofa. that didn't make jeonghan very happy. he groaned loudly out of both pain and frustration as mingyu’s weight crushed his dreams (and his ankles) with no remorse. literally, because it woke him up.

 

“wake up, sleepyhead. the cake’s in the oven!” mingyu was looking at jeonghan with the cheekiest fucking grin on his face. he knew he was being the most annoying little bitch ever, but did he care? no! instead, he found it to be quite amusing.

 

jeonghan just looked at him like he was stupid. for what reason did he think it was a good idea to wake him up just to inform him that the cake was in the oven?! it wasn’t even ready to decorate, or even better, eat! it was moronic to even fathom that jeonghan would have enjoyed being ripped mercilessly from his slumber into the cold, harsh, world without the moral support of poorly baked cake! unintentionally, he went from looking at mingyu like he was stupid to looking at him like he was going to kill him. it wasn’t his fault he was extremely tired and had a resting bitch face anyway! jeonghan death stared for so long in fact, that mingyu started to fear for his life. the silence was physically painful for him at this point, and he felt like jeonghan’s stare alone could send him six feet under.

 

“wake me up when it’s done.” jeonghan grumbled before pushing mingyu off of his ankles and promptly falling back asleep. that left a rather confused and scared mingyu standing in front of the sofa, now with nothing to do other than deal with seokmin’s annoying ass until the cake was out of the oven.

 

it was another hour before jeonghan woke up again, this time on his own accord. it was quite a relief to not have his ankles shattered by mingyu’s ass again, and that was probably one of the main reasons he actually had the motivation to get up. he could actually walk without his legs giving out.

 

jeonghan walked into the kitchen to see seokmin and mingyu wrestling over the last working icing bag nozzle, and calmly chose to ignore it. he just stood watching the two manchildren fight until mingyu gave up and let seokmin take free reign over the icing. lucky bastard.

 

seokmin was the first to notice jeonghan observing them, and he almost jumped out of his skin when he saw him standing in the corner of the room. seokmin being seokmin, he thought jeonghan was a demon and decided to alert mingyu that the house was haunted. of course, the house wasn’t haunted, so mingyu turned around in a state of panic to see the anticlimactic image of a very tired jeonghan standing in the corner of his unnecessarily brightly lit kitchen.

 

“seokmin, that’s not a demon - that’s jeonghan.”

 

“oh right, well, good morning jeonghan! did you sleep well?”

 

“uhh, yeah, i guess.” jeonghan flashed him an awkward smile. he wasn’t used to being surrounded by such a cheerful person - his only friend before he met mingyu was chan, who was cheerful of course, but nowhere near as hyper as seokmin. if you compared seokmin and chan’s levels of cheerfulness, chan would end up looking like the grumpiest boy on earth. That’s how much of a ray of sunshine seokmin was.

 

“jeonghan! wanna help us decorate the cake?”

 

mingyu snatched the icing bag from seokmin while his guard was down and presented it to jeonghan, who eagerly accepted it and shot a smug glance at seokmin. the aforementioned boy was pouting over the loss of his precious icing bag, and jeonghan being jeonghan, had the most overwhelming urge to hug him for no reason at all. well, there _was_ a reason: seokmin looked sad! jeonghan didn’t want seokmin to be sad.

 

somehow seokmin managed to woo jeonghan over, because he ended up hogging the icing bag for pretty much the whole time. jeonghan and mingyu didn’t mind though, because that meant they didn’t have to do any work. the perfect outcome for all of them!


	7. new years eve

 it had been approximately five and a half months since jeonghan met mingyu, and at this point he practically lived in his apartment. he much preferred to crash on the couch in seokmin and mingyu’s living room than sleep in his own lonely, dark, mess of a bedroom. 

 

life had been fairly peaceful, or as peaceful as it can get when you live with lee seokmin. he practically had a human alarm clock, seeing as seokmin decided the best way to start the day is to make breakfast in THE loudest and most obnoxious way possible. this wouldn’t be too bad if the apartment wasn’t open plan, but there was no wall between the living room and the kitchen. jeonghan could hear every pot and pan hit the floor at full volume. it was annoying, sure, but at least it got jeonghan into a somewhat healthy sleep schedule whether he liked it or not. 

 

all that aside, there was a matter much more important than jeonghan's morning routine at hand. today was the 31st of december; new years eve. jeonghan and mingyu sat on the latter's balcony watching the fireworks like any other person on new year's eve - excluding seokmin, because he was asleep. that left jeonghan and mingyu to themselves. 

 

in the space of time jeonghan had known mingyu, he had got to know him very well and considered him a close friend. well… close friend was an understatement. jeonghan had fallen five thousand feet for kim mingyu and there was no chance of him climbing his way out of that one. 

 

so, what about mingyu? 

 

jeonghan assumed he felt the same - he didn't know, of course, but he assumed. after all, they had been lowkey flirting with each other on a daily basis ever since they met. not to mention the fact that mingyu always went out of his way to make jeonghan jealous. it was just so obvious! seokmin even teased him about it. 

 

so what was a more romantic way to make a move than to do it on new year's eve? it happens in movies all the time! yes, its cliche as fuck, but sometimes its like that. you gotta let some cliche into your life at some point. 

 

as the two were on mingyu's balcony watching the fireworks, they were… awfully close… closer than normal. jeonghan being how he is, took that as a hint from mingyu, assumed he was planning on making a move too - which is mainly what spurred him on. 

 

the rainbow flashing lights of the fireworks painted their faces in shades of deep purples, blues, and reds as they gazed up at the sky together. not a word was said. they were both too busy staring in awe at the display in front of them - or at least mingyu was. jeonghan was too busy calculating when to make the move. 

 

he knew he wanted to kiss mingyu as the clock struck twelve. that's how it happens in movies right? he also knew that midnight was very soon, and so he started shifting closer to him.

 

mingyu tensed up at the unexpected touch when jeonghan put his head on the younger boy's shoulder, but soon relaxed when he knew what was going on. yet again, jeonghan assumed that was an invitation to carry on. without much second thought he slipped his hand onto mingyu's thigh, which evidently completely caught him off guard because he gasped and snapped his head around to look at jeonghan. 

 

at this point, jeonghan was already mentally high fiving himself as he looked into mingyu's eyes. he'd done it! he'd finally got a chance to confess to mingyu and everything went so well! 

 

then he leaned in closer and closer to mingyu's face, so thrilled and absolutely ecstatic that he was about to kiss the man he had fallen so hard and so fast for - and just as the clock struck twelve… 

 

mingyu pushed him away. 

 

the already beautiful fireworks show shot up into uproar, showering jeonghan and mingyu with fizzling out sparks and filling their eyes with more colours than you can imagine, but it wasn't a beautiful moment for them. 

 

jeonghan was on the balcony with the sensation of mingyu's hand pushing him away still burning on his skin. the beautiful colours of the fireworks seemed obsolete without mingyu's lips on his - not to mention the deep rooted embarrassment that scraped at his soul with sharp claws and gnashing teeth. 

 

jeonghan had fucked up. big time. 

 

if he had just kept his lips to himself this moment could have been serene and peaceful - two close friends spending quality time together and watching the dawn of the new year - but no. jeonghan just couldn't do that, could he? couldn't keep his impulses straight for ten seconds so that he could enjoy the new year to the fullest as well as keeping his friendship intact. 

 

there was just silence between them. not the nice, comfortable kind of silence either. awkward silence that rips at your very being and makes you feel like if you breathe too hard you're going to cry, or implode, or both. and the silence went on for what felt like hours - though it was only a few minutes. 

 

long enough for jeonghan to reflect on how much of a shitshow he had made of this whole evening. 

 

jeonghan's constant panicking about what the actual fuck he was going to do next probably just dragged the silence out even longer than it should have been, because it felt like a million more new years had passed before mingyu spoke.

 

and what mingyu said didn't help at all. 

 

“happy new year,”

 

that was all he said before he got up and walked back inside, leaving jeonghan with his mouth agape. he was shocked - he didn't know what to do. 

 

should he have gone after him and apologized? should he just stay outside and take a minute to calm down? should he just fucking jump off the balcony to save the embarrassment of ever having to talk to mingyu again? the options were quite frankly endless and that scared jeonghan - he didn't know what to do. 

 

he couldn't bear to face mingyu again, at least not until the morning. so he did the only thing he could think of. 

 

jeonghan stayed out on the balcony and cried that night.  

 

 


	8. movie night

the rain was hitting the windows with what seemed like the force of a hammer. that was the only thing about the storm that scared jeonghan because storms didn't scare him whatsoever. he was more worried about the window breaking and having to pay damages than he was worried about getting struck by lightning.

 

seokmin, however, was terrified of storms. that was why he was holding onto jeonghan for his life.

 

they had agreed to watch a movie on the sofa when they realised the storm had started - mainly because they were going to watch the same movie at the cinema that night, but didn't want to get absolutely drenched. unfortunate, but there was nothing they could have done about it.

 

so that's what they did. jeonghan was sat on the sofa like any normal human being would, meanwhile seokmin was curled up in a ball with his arms wrapped around jeonghan as if he were the only thing keeping him from being sucked out the window and into the storm outside.

 

it also didn't help that they were watching a horror film. poor seokmin was quaking in his fucking boots.

 

as the movie drew on, seokmin seemed to get closer and closer to jeonghan, which was more than noticeable for the poor, poor soul that had to deal with seokmin’s whimpering and screaming. though, it was made bearable by the fact that his cries of fear were absorbed by jeonghan’s clothing.

 

seokmin did, however, go quiet halfway through the film. jeonghan was relieved to know that he wouldnt have to deal with seokmin’s complaining, as he thought seokmin was asleep. he wasn’t asleep. jeonghan looked over at seokmin to decide which method would be best to get the unconscious clown into his room without waking him, but was instead greeted by the shocking (but actually rather cute) image of seokmin staring right at him.

 

“...seokmin what are you doing?” jeonghan hesitated slightly before speaking, because seokmin seemed like he was in another world. honestly speaking, it was rather adorable.

 

jeonghan snapped his fingers in front of seokmin’s and clapped his hands, jumping slightly when seokmin was pulled back to earth from his daydream.

 

“uhhhhhhhh,” seokmin blinked rapidly, obviously trying to decipher what jeonghan was saying. he didn’t really hear him.

 

“i asked what you were doing? you were staring at me.”

 

“the film- the film was too scary so i looked at you instead!”

 

jeonghan chuckled and put his face in his hand, shaking his head as if he’d just been embarassed in front of a crowd of people. it was far too late in the night for him to be dealing with seokmin’s shenanigans.

 

“why didn’t you just close your eyes?” jeonghan breathed in an extremely (probably overly) exasperated tone. “it was really creepy seeing you staring at me,”

 

“it’s uh… dark when i close my eyes! i’m scared of the dark,”

 

“then how do you sleep…?”

 

“i don’t!" 

 

“of course,”

 

after that whole fiasco, the two kept on watching the movie - though much to seokmin’s despair. it was getting close to the climax of the film and seokmin was not prepared for whatever fuckery the director was gonna pull. why was he even watching a horror film?! he hated horror! he was far too easily scared.

 

jeonghan was soon to realise that, because as soon as the biggest jumpscare of the film occured, seokmin burst into tears. knowing jeonghan, he wasn’t the best at dealing with crying people. especially a crying seokmin. so, when he found himself lying with seokmin sobbing into his shoulder, he was… awkward, to say the least.

 

“seokmin are you- are you okay? are you okay?”

 

seokmin was in far too much of a state to answer him properly, so he just did what any crying mess of a person would do. he just snivelled. loudly. that was his response.

 

jeonghan decided to take that as a no, because if he was okay, he probably wouldn’t be crying. so what better way to comfort your crying friend than to pause the movie, squish their cheeks together and look them in the eye!

 

“seokmin it’s okay, the bad man won’t hurt you,” jeonghan was comforting seokmin as if he were a small child, but it was okay because it was, believe it or not, actually working. “he’s just fictional seok, please don’t cry,”

 

jeonghan finished off his quick comforting session with a soft kiss on seokmin’s forehead. that seemed to do the job just fine, because as soon as jeonghan pulled away, seokmin was beaming with his classic sunshine smile! typical.


	9. monopoly

seeing as movie night didn’t really work out that well last time and the storm was still raging outside, there was only one option left. that option being to dig out that ungodly devil of a family activity in a box from the darkest depths of seokmin’s wardrobe. yes, seokmin and jeonghan were engaged in an intense game of monopoly: the board game that either strengthens or ruins friendships. in most cases, it usually ruins them.

 

“suck on that, jeonghan, i just got myself a monopoly!” seokmin grinned cheekily at jeonghan as he placed various houses across the board. this earned what was meant to be a death glare from jeonghan, but it ended up crumbling almost immediately when seokmin’s phone started screaming at them to pick up. no, really, his ringtone was literally screaming - soonyoung’s screaming, to be exact.

 

jeonghan peered over the table at seokmin’s phone as an attempt at seeing who on earth would be calling this late, but seokmin picked up too quickly for jeonghan to be able to catch a glimpse of his screen.

 

“hello?” seokmin answered the phone and mouthed a quick ‘sorry,’ at jeonghan, who was patiently waiting for the call to end so that he could obliterate him for getting a monopoly.

 

the call didn't last very long. it mostly just consisted of seokmin repeating the phrases ‘mhm,’ and ‘yep okay’ for about 30 seconds before saying goodbye and promptly hanging up.

 

“who was that?” jeonghan asked mostly out of common courtesy - he wasn't really interested, he just wanted to get on with the game.

 

“oh, it was just mingyu.”

 

nevermind. _now_ jeonghan was interested. he'd been pondering on the topic of the whereabouts of his favourite string bean since the storm started.

 

“mingyu? where is he?”

 

“he's at his boyfriend's place! he just called to let us know he's on his way back,”

 

something in jeonghan’s head clicked into place upon hearing the words ‘mingyu’ and ‘boyfriend’ in the same sentence. now everything made sense- that was why he rejected him on new year's eve! it wasn't that jeonghan just came on too strong, _mingyu was already taken._

 

“boyfriend!? i didn't know he had a boyfriend,”

 

seokmin took a minute to register what jeonghan was saying, but when he managed to string the words he was hearing into a legible sentence in his mind, his eyes widened in an expression of surprise.

 

“really? i thought it was pretty obvious that gyu and seungcheol were a thing- they’re pretty much glued at the hip!”

 

jeonghan felt some sort of sinking feeling when he realised what seokmin was saying. mingyu was in love with seungcheol and not him. of course! it was so painfully obvious; seungcheol came over all the time and he was never forced to sleep on the sofa - he slept in mingyu’s room and jeonghan never questioned it. they were always so touchy with each other but jeonghan just assumed it was because mingyu was clingy with everyone. there were so many signs that they were dating and jeonghan was too blinded by his own love to recognise them.

 

“i uh… i feel sick,” jeonghan forced out his words as if they were a burp that had been stuck in his throat for ages. he needed to get somewhere else- anywhere else- before he let his emotions show. “i think i might have given myself food poisoning,”

 

seokmin didn’t see through jeonghan’s lie, but he wasn’t going to tell him and make him feel even worse. he watched jeonghan’s heart sink to the pit of his stomach as soon as his words entered his ears.

 

“oh- are you okay? do you want me to take you to the doctors?”

 

“no, no no no i’m okay. i just… need the bathroom. yeah,”

 

and with that, jeonghan got up from his seat and dashed to the bathroom leaving a bewildered and slightly disheartened seokmin still sat at the dining table. at least he still had a monopoly.

 

jeonghan locked himself in the bathroom and cried. he cried and cried and cried but by the end of it, he didn’t know why he was crying anymore. all of his thoughts about mingyu and seungcheol had been completely forgotten and all he could focus on were the tears rolling down his cheeks. but soon enough, there was a quiet knock at the bathroom door and all of his mingyu-related thoughts came whizzing back to his mind.

 

“jeonghan?”

 

upon hearing his voice, jeonghan almost cursed out loud for seokmin to leave him alone; he didn’t, though. lucky save.

 

“sorry, but the person you are trying to call can’t take your call at the moment. please leave a message after the beep. beep,”

 

jeonghan’s weak response coaxed a chuckle out of seokmin, who proceeded to try turning the door handle only to find that the door was, in fact, locked from the inside.

 

“hannie please let me in,”

 

“no,”

 

“hannie, what’s wrong, i know you’re crying, i could hear you from the monopoly table,”

 

jeonghan sighed. he had to make up an excuse for why he was crying asap and his brain clearly wasn’t working very well at the moment. luckily, the ‘excuses’ section of his brain is active 24/7, so he was able to conjure up a response quick enough to avoid suspicion.

 

“i’m gonna be sick, seok,” jeonghan wasn’t lying - he did feel sick, but not from food poisoning. he felt sick because he was absolutely fucking distraught and devastated to the deepest depths of his soul. “i hate throwing up seok i’m so scared- i hate it i hate it,”

 

even though jeonghan’s acting earlier was absolutely abysmal to the highest degree, this time he managed to fool seokmin, because now he was even more concerned than before.

 

“wait- shit- really? deep breaths okay hannie? can you please let me in? i don’t know how to deal with sick people i’m so sorry i’m not a nurse,”

 

jeonghan reluctantly agreed to let seokmin into the room despite how awful he thought he looked (to be fair, he _was_ a sobbing mess). seokmin burst into the room and immediately pulled jeonghan into a hug, reassuring him and making sure the toilet was there and ready if jeonghan needed something to throw up into.

 

jeonghan definitely needed something to throw up into.


	10. god bless the biscuits

after that whole ordeal in the bathroom, seokmin had jeonghan wrapped up in a blanket on the sofa with a warm mug of lemsip to try and help calm him down. for all seokmin knew, jeonghan had a bad case of accidental food poisoning and he needed medical attention immediately. however, seokmin’s definition of medical attention was… questionable at best. he gave jeonghan a mug of lemsip. a mug of lemsip was not going to cure jeonghan’s presumed ‘food poisoning’. at least he was trying. it’s the thought that counts.

 

the pure, innocent kindness of seokmin’s actions towards him definitely calmed jeonghan down. his mind had been completely taken off his stress and anxiety over a certain string bean with legs and it was now focused on the tv show that he was watching with seokmin’s arm around his shoulder. luckily it wasn’t a horror film this time, so seokmin wasn’t crying.

 

jeonghan’s peace of mind didn’t last for long, however, as soon there was the painfully recognisable sound of keys unlocking the front door. mingyu was home.

 

jeonghan instantly felt sick again, but he decided not to mention it in fear of seokmin getting worried and making a scene. he didn’t want mingyu to know he had ‘food poisoning’- he’d see straight through his facade. oh, nevermind. too late. seokmin was already on his way to tell mingyu exactly what jeonghan _didn’t_ want mingyu to know.

 

“mingyu mingyu mingyu mingyu! jeonghan’s ill we need to take him to a doctor!”

 

“seokmin no-”

 

“seokmin yes! you literally threw up like ten minutes ago and i don’t-”

 

“i’m _fine_ seokmin, trust me,”

 

mingyu hadn’t even got his drenched coat onto the heater before seokmin was pretty much screaming for help, thus leaving the poor boy absolutely bewildered and confused as he rushed to change into a drier outfit.

 

as soon as mingyu was into some comfier clothes (although his hair was still soaking wet), he rushed into the living room and plunged himself into the cushions of the sofa next to jeonghan. he was ready with his entire body and soul to give him all the emotional support physically possible.

 

jeonghan, however, had other plans. even being close to mingyu made him feel even worse. he felt like he needed to throw up again. of course he didn’t mean to act like he didn’t want mingyu there but it was pretty difficult to hide the fact that his company made him feel physically nauseous. jeonghan pushed mingyu away and darted to the bathroom, locking himself in again in hopes that nobody would bother him.

 

of course, knowing jeonghan’s luck, someone did bother him. jeonghan was just grateful that the person bothering him _wasn’t_ mingyu. when seokmin’s concerned voice rung in jeonghan’s ears it was like he was having a bout of deja vu- except this really had happened before. about 15 minutes ago to be exact.

 

“jeonghan are you sure you’re okay? do you need me in there?”

 

“i’m fine, seokmin,”

 

jeonghan definitely wasn’t fine. he definitely needed seokmin in there with him, but the thought of swallowing his pride and admitting that he needed help was unbearable for him. seokmin pleaded with him for a few minutes and insisted that he needed to help, but he eventually gave up and left jeonghan to his own devices.

 

after about half an hour of trying to make himself look presentable enough to not be questioned, jeonghan stumbled out of the bathroom and made his way towards the living room. he didn’t want to admit to the fact that he’d just thrown up again and cried his eyes out for the last ten minutes, so he wasn’t going to. they didn’t need to know, right? he was fine! at least jeonghan thought he was fine.

 

however, seokmin saw right through his facade of being ‘fine’ almost immediately. as soon as he stepped foot in the room, seokmin rushed over and enveloped him in a hug. jeonghan didn’t know what on earth was going on for a second, but as soon as he realised he was being hugged and not attacked, he wrapped his arms around seokmin and pathetically sobbed into his shoulder. seokmin didn’t know what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t that. all he could really do was just kind of let him cry into his shoulder.

 

if you thought seokmin didn’t know what to do, you should take a look at mingyu. he was still sat on the sofa eating the biscuits seokmin gave him when he walked through the front door and he really had no say in what happened between jeonghan and seokmin- he just kinda had to watch. he wasn’t really complaining, though. as much as he loved jeonghan and wanted to make sure he was safe and happy and healthy, he’d just got through the door soaking wet and all he wanted was to relax. seokmin could handle this one.

 

seokmin ended up having a small conversation with jeonghan under hushed voices- too hushed for mingyu to hear properly. he assumed it was just seokmin comforting jeonghan and telling him he’d take him to the doctors in the morning, but that was just a guess. after that, they both made their way to seokmin’s bedroom with their fingers interlocked. the only part of the conversation mingyu could pick up on was seokmin saying that jeonghan was going to have a ‘well-deserved nap’, so he could rest assured that jeonghan was probably going to be okay. seokmin was good at cheering people up and boy was he a great cuddler.

 

mingyu shrugged it off. there was nothing he could do to help so he decided to focus on his biscuits instead. god bless the biscuits.


	11. best friend

jeonghan felt okay now. he felt safe. now that he was away from mingyu and everything concerning seungcheol had been pushed to the back of his mind, he could just melt into seokmin’s arms and let the warmth of his best friend’s body put his mind at ease. yes, seokmin’s body was warm, but his heart was so much warmer. that man had a heart warmer than the sun on a summer’s day and jeonghan couldn’t be more grateful to call him a friend.

 

the constant acts of kindness and affection from him were more than comforting- especially now that he was dealing with… whatever this whole situation was. it could probably be labelled as heartbreak, but jeonghan didn’t like that word. it was far too dramatic of a word to be used as a label for a situation as small and insignificant as this. jeonghan was just jealous, or at least that’s what he told himself.

 

jeonghan was nestled into seokmin’s chest with his arms wrapped around his back. the storm was still raging outside, but it was calmer now- quieter. they were both huddled together under the covers, enjoying each other’s warmth and living in their own little bubble. nothing could hurt them here.

 

“you okay now?”

 

seokmin’s hushed voice was just as warm as his heart, wrapping jeonghan’s mind in a blanket of comfort whenever he spoke. he was truly blessed to have a friend so loving and kind as seokmin- he was just a big bundle of hugs and cuddles. every time he spoke to seokmin he felt special. seokmin didn’t want anyone to feel left out, so he treated everyone he met like they were the only person in the world. at least jeonghan assumed he was like that to everyone. it couldn’t _just_ be him, right?

 

jeonghan hummed and nodded into seokmin’s chest, painting a smile onto seokmin’s face. jeonghan couldn’t see it, but he knew it was there.

 

“thanks for being here, seok,”

 

“it’s no problem han, i’d be a rubbish friend if i just left you on your own, right?”

 

“i guess,”

 

then, completely to the surprise of jeonghan (and admittedly to the surprise as seokmin as well), he felt a tiny little kiss on the tip of his nose. just a little one. however, that tiny little peck was enough to send jeonghan’s heart zooming down rainbow road because _CHRIST he was not expecting that._ he did a good job at hiding the fact that he was going absolutely crazy though- jeonghan is very good at hiding when he’s flustered. not much can get to him in the first place.

 

seokmin, on the other hand, is absolutely godawful at hiding when he’s flustered. he’s also very easy to fluster. so much so, that he managed to make _himself_ flustered. seokmin was blushing like a madman and jeonghan had every reason to make fun of him for it considering he brought it upon himself.

 

“minnie~~ are you blushing because you’re warm or ‘cause you’re happy to see me?” jeonghan teased seokmin and reached up to pinch his blushing cheek with a massive grin painted on his face. the only thing running through his mind was how much of a dork his best friend was.

 

_best friend._

 

seokmin was jeonghan’s best friend- nothing more and nothing less. he couldn’t possibly have feelings for his best friend! he liked mingyu, _not_ seokmin. who wouldn’t get flustered if someone unexpectedly kissed them on the nose?

 

“hannie you can’t tease me! you’re blushing too,”

 

jeonghan’s eyes widened at seokmin’s remark and, lo and behold, he was right. when jeonghan put his hand to his own cheek, they were certainly warmer than usual. after finding out his mission of concealing his own flustered-ness had failed, he promptly let out a really long and embarrassed groan to let seokmin know that he’d won.

 

not much was said after that. they both fell asleep soon after, with arms wrapped around each other holding each other close and seokmin’s hands playing idly with jeonghan’s hair as they were both lost in thought. they were mostly thinking about each other.

 

they couldn’t possibly have fallen for each other, right? jeonghan was in love with mingyu. it was impossible- as far as he knew. it was like having a billion crushes on everyone in school- completely irrational and all in his head.

 

or at least that’s what he told himself.


	12. morning

some people move a lot on their sleep, and some people manage to stay completely still throughout the entire night. seokmin is not one of the people who can stay still during the night. that man can’t stay still for five seconds when he’s awake let alone when he’s unconscious and has no control over his body. it was for this exact reason that jeonghan ended up waking up in a completely different position to the one he fell asleep in. every time seokmin moved, he dragged jeonghan with him. god knows how he didn’t wake up- but then again this is jeonghan we’re talking about. jeonghan can pretty much sleep through anything.

 

jeonghan expected to open his eyes to be greeted by the soft pastel yellow of seokmin’s shirt but was instead greeted by… no seokmin at all. jeonghan’s heart sunk a little out of disappointment at first, but the feeling was quickly shaken off when he realised seokmin’s arms were still firmly wrapped around him.

 

seokmin was _spooning_ him.

 

most people would find the concept of spooning your friend weird and jeonghan certainly thought he was one of these people, but now that he found himself in this circumstance he wasn’t complaining. seokmin was warm and comfortable and he felt… at home. not to say that he liked seokmin in that way! that was definitely not what was happening, no matter what jeonghan’s heart was trying to tell him.

 

as much as jeonghan wasn’t a morning person, he kind of wanted to get out of bed and start his day considering the fact that for all he knew it was probably about 2 pm and that meant he was at high risk of wasting precious, _precious_ time. on the other hand, however, jeonghan also didn’t want to disturb seokmin. he was perfectly content just laying in his arms and making the most of this moment but a little voice in the back of his head was telling him that he might actually fall for seokmin if he stayed there any longer. jeonghan didn’t want to fall for seokmin. he was perfectly content having his heartstrings played like a guitar by one person- he didn’t need to add another member to the band of his internal organs just yet.

 

much to his relief, jeonghan didn’t have to debate whether to stay or get up for long because seokmin woke up not too long after him. while jeonghan didn’t make his consciousness obvious, seokmin most certainly did. as soon as he woke up he squeezed jeonghan as tightly as possible as if he were a teddy bear. this small action made jeonghan’s heart skip a beat - not because jeonghan liked him of course, but because seokmin was just so endearing it was impossible not to find him cute!

 

jeonghan turned around to face seokmin, only to be greeted by yet another impromptu kiss on the nose. not cool, seokmin, now jeonghan’s heart is all warm and fuzzy again! it seemed like every moment jeonghan spent with seokmin he was falling farther and farther down the rabbit hole of… love? if it was love it was just brotherly love of course… there was no way - and i cannot stress enough- NO way that he could be in love with his best friend. nope. not at all.

 

the two both giggled when they made eye contact, and despite definitely not having any romantic feelings whatsoever for seokmin, that little voice in the back of jeonghan’s brain was telling him he kinda wanted to kiss seokmin right now. no homo, of course! there just happened to be a little itch on jeonghan’s lips that needed to be scratched. jeonghan glanced down at seokmin’s lips for a second while cogs were spinning and churning inside his brain until he panicked and looked back into his eyes. he wasn’t normally like this- he was a confident man! why was his best friend making him so flustered all of a sudden? for goodness sake, he was his _BEST FRIEND_.

 

after a few minutes of awkward eye contact due to jeonghan’s… rather obvious gesture, seokmin swallowed hard and broke the silence.

 

“morning jeonghan…”

 

“g’morning seok,”

 

jeonghan could physically feel the tension growing and he was dying to make it stop; so, like the confident gay he is, he pecked seokmin briskly on the cheek and scrambled out of bed. seokmin was just left there completely dumbfounded as jeonghan darted out of the room. needless to say, he was blushing like mad. jeonghan really knew how to push all the right buttons to make his heart flutter.

 

for better or for worse.


	13. home

“i’m moving out,”

 

jeonghan’s heart sunk to the deepest depths of his stomach when mingyu’s words finally processed in his brain. he had finally plucked up the courage and healed his heart enough to talk to mingyu over breakfast after what had happened the night before, and now he’d been thrown back to square one.

 

“what?”

 

“i said i’m moving out,”

 

“no i heard what you said i just- why?”

 

“i’m moving in with cheol,”

 

of course he was. now that seokmin had told him about their relationship everything had to revolve around seungcheol. it wasn’t fair- why couldn’t he just stay here? why couldn’t seungcheol move here? wait- scrap that. that would be hell. there was no way around this, mingyu was dead set on living with seungcheol and that was the one thing that was going to crush every little hope and dream that jeonghan had. now where would he sleep? would he have to finally go back to his stinky old cramped apartment? what would happen to seokmin? so many questions left unanswered.

 

“but what-”

 

“don’t worry, i already talked with the landlord ‘n she said you can move in if you want,”

 

well, that was one of his questions answered. how did mingyu know exactly what he was thinking? was he a mind reader? oh no- if mingyu was a mind reader then he definitely knew some horribly embarrassing things about jeonghan- but that’s besides the point. jeonghan was slightly relieved at the information that he wouldn’t have to sleep on that admittedly rather uncomfortable sofa for much longer, but the fact that mingyu would no longer be a part of his daily routine was a permanent dark cloud above his head.

 

seokmin’s feelings on the situation were also mixed.

 

“wait- why didn’t you tell me?” seokmin is not very good at hiding his emotions, so you could physically feel the hurt and betrayal in every word he spoke. this made jeonghan’s heart sink even further, though he didn’t know it was possible until it happened.

 

“no seok i’m sorry i- we just decided on it last night,” mingyu reassured seokmin and even got up from his seat and walked to the other side of the breakfast bar to where seokmin was sat just to give him a hug. “i’ll be out of the apartment by the 20th,”

 

it was the 4th today. they had just over two weeks to spend as much time together as possible, and you bet jeonghan was going to make those two weeks the best two weeks of their lives if he could help it.

 

jeonghan opened his mouth to say something, but promptly closed it again and swallowed when he realised what he was going to say wasn’t really appropriate. instead, he just put his head in his hands and looked down at the table. he wanted to speak to mingyu as much as possible for the remaining time he had at the flat, but he could barely bring himself to look him in the eye. all of his emotions were just too much.

 

“i need some time to lie down,”

 

“but we just got out of bed-”

 

“i just need to think things over,”

 

“do you want me to come with you?”

 

“i just wanna be alone,”

 

jeonghan was fully aware that he didn’t have a bedroom in this apartment. that was exactly the reason why he was going back to his own one. his own shitty apartment 10 minutes away from mingyu’s. his own apartment that he was still paying rent for despite only ever opening the front door every few months. he practically lived in mingyu and seokmin’s apartment now, so going home was going to be like a breath of fresh air. some time to properly let his mind sort everything out; his feelings, his emotions, his… relationships.

 

it was time to go home.


	14. neighbour

jeonghan let out a deep sigh of relief as he stepped through the front door and breathed in the refreshing (albeit dusty) homey air of his apartment. it had been about four or five months since jeonghan had even stepped foot in the apartment complex let alone his own home. people often say a house is only a home when you've left your mark, but if you applied that rule to jeonghan's apartment you'd find that jeonghan's apartment was the homiest home to ever... home. it would have been a very nice little apartment if it weren't as messy as a pigsty. not jeonghan's fault entirely- though he did let himself go a little bit in the few months before he up and abandoned the building.

 

the walls were a tan brown, almost like mud that had been out in the sun for a while except slightly lighter. despite its muddy appearance, it nicely complemented the rich wooden flooring (the floor in question covered in dust and old clothes). the living room was quite roomy, and the door to the left led to a short hallway that allowed access to the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom respectively.

 

hey, maybe if jeonghan came back and actually started living here, he could get on with his life without having his best friends playing tug of war with his heart every second of the day. maybe then he could focus on his studies in business without having seokmin and mingyu in the back of his mind constantly. heck, maybe if he just cut them off and forgot the past 5 months even happened, he'd lead a happier life.

 

jeonghan shook his thoughts off with a disgusted expression on his face. why was he thinking all of this when he clearly knew that meeting mingyu and seokmin was the one thing that dragged him out of the mess he was in? just looking at the state of his apartment was enough to see the mental state he was in when they first met. he was clearly not in a good place.

 

jeonghan mindlessly made his way to the kitchen, almost walking into the table as he walked through the kitchen door. as nice as it was, the apartment was extremely cramped. there was pretty much no room to breathe and that was certainly not helped by the fact that jeonghan had let clutter gather in the limited empty space given in every room. he drew out a small wooden chair, dusting it off before taking a seat and resting his head on the table. unluckily for jeonghan, he forgot to dust off the table before he set his head on it, and proceeded to inhale a large amount of dust from the tabletop.

 

meanwhile, in the corridor outside, jeonghan's neighbour noticed that something... wasn't quite right. jeonghan hadn't been seen in the apartment complex for months now, and he used to say good morning to his neighbour every day at almost exactly 11:30 am. cutting it close to the barrier of what's considered 'morning' and what isn't, but it worked nonetheless. then jeonghan just... disappeared. gone. in the blink of an eye. one day he was there, the next day he wasn't. no 'goodbye', no sign of belongings being removed from the house, no nothing. he just vanished.

 

but now jeonghan's front door was ajar, and there was no immediate sign of anyone home.

 

alarm immediately clicked in his brain, and instead of shrugging it off and going grocery shopping like he intended to do (which is what he would do in literally any other situation), he decided to investigate. he knew it was probably very illegal to take advantage of the open front door and have a quick look around jeonghan's apartment, but he couldn't help but notice that it was still completely furnished. jeonghan hadn't moved out at all.

 

feelings of guilt and panic started creeping into his mind as he realised jeonghan might have actually gone missing and nobody- not one single person bothered to check on him. he should have knocked on jeonghan's door the day he stopped saying hello to him. it wasn't like jeonghan to break routine as far as he knew, but then again he didn't know jeonghan very well despite living opposite him for two years. if jeonghan had been kidnapped and nobody had done anything about it until now, there was probably nothing that could be done about it. for all his neighbour knew, jeonghan could have been dead.

 

the tall man approached the door at a speed comparable to that of a snail, partly because he was scared of being caught and arrested but mostly because he was scared he was going to be attacked by an intruder. when he stuck his head inside the apartment and looked around, he realised the latter might actually be plausible. the house didn't look abandoned, it straight up looked _ransacked_. clothes were strewn over the floor, piles of paper had been knocked off of a desk and were scattered on the floor and the desk's drawers were open and unhinged as if someone had been looking through them in a rush. not to mention the amount of upturned dust in the air. now his heart was really beginning to pound out of his chest like a bass drum in a fast-paced song.

 

"jeonghan?"

 

he called out his acquaintance's name in hopes that he might actually be here, but when he didn't receive a reply that tiny sliver of hope he still had was crushed. jeonghan was gone and someone had broken in- that was the only explanation. see, he thought he was going to lead a normal life without weird shit like this happening to him. a normal life without any missing people or weird disappearances, but life decided that just wasn't the case. at least, that's what he thought until he heard a quiet sob echo from the kitchen. someone was crying, and that someone sounded awfully like jeonghan.

 

though jeonghan's neighbour had never heard him cry before, he had heard him say the phrase 'good morning,' enough times for him to be able to guess what jeonghan might sound like if he were crying. and with that thought in mind, he swiftly made his way down the hallway towards the crying noise. it only happened once, which meant it could have been nothing but an auditory hallucination, but it was soon followed by a loud sniffle which confirmed his theory. as he entered the kitchen, he was greeted by the sight of a clearly shaken jeonghan with his head resting on the dark wooden table, his face obscured by his arms which he was using to rest his forehead on. he was crying and had clearly not noticed his neighbour enter the room- let alone the apartment at all.

 

"jeonghan?"

 

no response.

 

this was starting to creep him out. the mysterious disappearance, the ransacked house, the open front door could all be explained by some sort of logic if one were to think hard enough. maybe he moved away and someone broke into the empty apartment. but this just made it a whole lot weirder. jeonghan was back, but he was... in a trance of sorts. or at least that's what he could discern from the situation.

 

his only choice was to touch jeonghan and shake him out of his trance, but he was slightly nervous to do so considering the fact that he could have literally just escaped from some sort of kidnapper or something - maybe even a cult if you did the right mental gymnastics in your assumption. reluctantly, he grabbed hold on jeonghan's shoulders gently and shook him slightly to pull him back to earth. it worked, earning a yelp from jeonghan as he pulled away from the unknown attacker in fear. jeonghan was breathing heavily, his pupils dilated in fear - or maybe they were just dilated due to the darkness of the room. his gaze soon softened, however, as he realised he was looking at a familiar face.

 

"wonwoo?"

 

jeonghan was shocked, you could hear it in his voice. wonwoo was the last person he expected to see today, and it was a rather embarrassing moment to see him as well. his eyes were puffy from crying and he'd made a sizeable puddle of tears on the table. not to mention the fact that his blonde hair was an absolute mess from the amount of times he'd pulled it trying to come to a conclusion on what to do.

 

wonwoo didn't question why he was crying, nor did he make it seem like he was going to question it, which gave jeonghan some sense of relief. he didn't want to have to explain his whole situation with mingyu and seokmin to someone he had barely ever talked to. it's a lot to take in when you're first getting to know someone, and despite knowing each other for two whole years, they didn't know each other _well_. wonwoo was well aware of this, so he simply gave him a hug and let jeonghan cry into his shoulder without saying a word. 


	15. too far

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: implied sexual content ???? idk it gets kinda spicy but there's nothing rlly bad at all i just thought i'd warn u

the moment the front door closed behind the last mover, it was official. jeonghan had moved in, and mingyu had moved out. the past few months had been hectic, to say the least - what with all the moving that had been going on. mingyu had to get his stuff out and jeonghan had to get his stuff in. now he had to spend hours decorating his new bedroom before he inevitably messed it up in less than two weeks!

 

as soon as jeonghan and seokmin were alone in their apartment, there was an odd atmosphere surrounding them. it was strange not having mingyu around, not only for jeonghan but more so for seokmin. seokmin had lived with mingyu for years and rarely spent a day without at least feeling his presence in the building.

 

it was getting late, as the movers took quite a while to get all of jeonghan’s stuff up the stairs (the elevator was out of order), and the two of them were getting quite hungry. now that mingyu had gone, there was no longer a cook in the house. that meant there was nobody capable of making edible food. after a long discussion, the role of cook was… begrudgingly given to seokmin. seokmin’s reasoning was that every time jeonghan touched an oven it threatened to burn the house down - which was, in all fairness, true. so, with a cheesy grin on his face, seokmin skipped off to the kitchen to start making dinner.

 

jeonghan had a fairly sizeable amount of home decorating to do and he had to wait for seokmin to pull together a meal, so he thought might as well get started on his room. it took him a concerning amount of time to decide what theme he wanted for his room even though he already had all of the things he would be decorating it with - there was no need for colour scheme picking or anything. after looking through all his things he realised that the only theme he was physically capable of making was a bland and boring mix of grey and white… thrilling, to say the least.

 

by the time he had finished stuffing his duvet into his pale grey bedsheets, he was already worn out and mind-numbingly bored. it would have helped if he had some music to listen to or a friend to do it with, but his phone was charging in the living room and seokmin was busy.

 

_seokmin!_

 

jeonghan remembered that seokmin was still in the kitchen making dinner, and he was honestly scared for the condition of his friend’s fingers. after the whole cake fiasco when they first met, he vowed never to let seokmin touch a sharp kitchen utensil again. he stuck to his promise, buying him a set of children’s knifes a few days afterwards.

 

mildly concerned for the wellbeing of his friend, jeonghan made his way out of his bedroom and into the kitchen, where seokmin was stood at the shiny cream-coloured units chopping peppers. the knife he was using was… worryingly sharp considering the only knives he had used for the past 7-ish months were blunt. seokmin didn't notice him enter the kitchen until he back-hugged him, which pretty much scared the life out of him. seokmin shrieked in fear, almost dropping the knife before he realised it was literally just his roommate hugging him. he wasn’t going to die today.

 

“hmmm, what are you making?” jeonghan hummed as he nestled his chin into seokmin’s shoulder, his breath tickling gently against the hairs on seokmin’s neck. “try not to cut your fingers sunshine, we’re all out of plasters,”

 

seokmin tensed up slightly at the breath on his neck, but quickly got over it and grinned warmly at the pet name. jeonghan was a touchy guy but he was never _this_  touchy, so seokmin was very happy to have this attention from him.

 

"we're having stir fry tonight,"

 

jeonghan hummed in response, nuzzling further into seokmin's neck. seokmin's heart fluttered out of his chest at the notion and he could feel himself getting increasingly flustered the longer jeonghan spent with him. jeonghan left a soft kiss on his neck which sent lightning shooting down seokmin's body, after which he decided enough was enough.

 

“hannie i’m busy,” seokmin complained playfully, pushing jeonghan backwards with his butt to get out of his grasp without thinking. he couldn’t concentrate on cooking with him breathing down his neck all the time- especially not with him _kissing_ it. it was far too much for his poor heart to take.

 

that action proved to be… a mistake? it really depends on how you look at it. jeonghan stumbled backwards, uttering a quiet, breathy ‘fuck,’ as he regained his footing. he was’t expecting seokmin to push him away like that. he didn't want to be _that_ guy and get turned on by simple things like that, but this is jeonghan we're talking about. seokmin was really doing something to him these days and he couldn’t tell if he liked it or not. jeonghan was dying for seokmin to just ignore it because he knew if he didn't he wouldn't be able to control himself, but he just couldn't get his way. seokmin put the knife safely down on the chopping board and turned to face jeonghan, flashing him an awkward smile and embracing him in a hug.

 

“sorry hannie i- sorry, i hope that wasn’t weird or anything,” seokmin’s voice was muffled by jeonghan’s clothes, but he got the jist of it.

 

unexpectedly, jeonghan pushed seokmin forwards, backing him up to the counter. he knew he wouldn't be able to control himself, the tension between the two of them over the past few weeks had been so intense he was close to giving in already. seokmin reflexively put his hands back to steady himself on the kitchen unit, his palms growing sweaty and leaving faint wet handprints on the laminated wood. the gap between them was very close - almost too close for comfort, in fact. the air between them was steamy as all hell and seokmin was starting to panic. if he just leaned in a few centimetres he could kiss him. he’d wanted to kiss jeonghan for the longest time and now was his chance. he’d had many other chances before but now he was really in a situation where it could possibly happen and it was all his fault. if he fell in love with jeonghan now and actually kissed him he’d be a goner! love destroyed him, it made him all weak and gooey and lovesick and… _happy_ . sure, he was usually always happy, but love made him _happy_ happy.

 

before seokmin could finish his thoughts, jeonghan’s lips were on his and - just his luck - seokmin was already kissing back. he could feel it in his gut that what he was doing was wrong, but everything just felt so _right_. jeonghan’s lips were soft and gentle against his no matter how roughly they were kissing each other and how uncomfortable he was backed up to the unit. jeonghan’s hand wound into his hair as the other snaked around his waist and seokmin felt like he was on cloud nine. all the tension between them for the time they’d known each other was finally erupting in this one moment and it felt perfect. all he could think about was jeonghan and that was all he cared about. it was like they were perfect for each other, their lips fit together perfectly and their bodies curved into one another like a jigsaw puzzle- it was almost like they were fated to be together.

 

seokmin removed one hand from the edge of the counter and used it to pull jeonghan closer before cupping his face with both hands. seokmin wondered if it was just a dream, it was almost too good to be true. he'd be longing for something like this to happen- for jeonghan to give him a sign that he felt the same way- and now he had solid proof. he didn't know what would happen afterwards and honestly, he didn't want to. it would be awkward as all hell and he didn't want to think about it so he just kept kissing him like he was the only person in the world.

 

when they pulled apart, they just stared at each other for a while, catching their breath and breathing in each other’s aura. seokmin’s hands slipped down from jeonghan’s face to wrap gently around the back of his neck, earning a smile from the older boy as they gazed into each other’s eyes. anyone watching would think they blanked out, but they were just content staring into each other's eyes and revelling in how hard they had fallen for each other so quickly. they were still millimetres apart, one tiny movement connecting their lips again in a flurry of sparks. the kiss only lasted for a few seconds, because jeonghan pulled away and began to kiss up seokmin’s neck - stopping briefly to leave a faint mark underneath his right ear.

 

“your lips make me wonder what the rest of you tastes like,” jeonghan slipped his hands under seokmin’s shirt as he spoke. the meaning of what he was saying hit him like a wave crashing against the cliffside and coaxed a strained moan to rise from his throat as he scrambled to grab jeonghan's wrists.

 

it was at that point that seokmin knew it had gone too far. he had always known to trust his gut and his gut was telling him to get the fuck out of that situation before it went any further. he wanted jeonghan- of course he did- he just wasn’t ready to make that commitment, especially not now. there was a voice in seokmin's mind telling him not to be with jeonghan and as much as he hated it, he listened to it. it was just trying to protect him.

 

“jeonghan- jeonghan we need to stop,” seokmin shakily pushed jeonghan away, his chest heaving as he tried to maintain his breathing. “i love you, hannie, but this has- we’ve gone too far,”

 

jeonghan looked like a wounded puppy- his posture completely deflated. he looked so small compared to how large and dominant he had always looked. it tore seokmin apart to see jeonghan hurt like this but he couldn't ignore the voice in his head that told him to stop. though his lips itched to be met with jeonghan's again, he had to turn him away. it was too dangerous to fuck around with feelings- especially when it concerned his roommate. jeonghan left the kitchen with his tail between his legs, leaving seokmin to figure out his head and finish his stir fry on his own.

 

needless to say, seokmin ate alone in his room that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> orphaning this work and not continuing it, sorry  
> i don't write fanfiction anymore it's a phase of my life i don't want to be associated with anymore


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